The final stretch

Hi guys, Karan here. Hope you fared well in your JEE-Main. I realize that it's been quite a long time since our last article. But it's been very busy for us here this semester.
Some of you were asking for a post to discuss your preps in this period between JEE Main and Advanced. So here goes:
This is the final stretch of your preparation guys. This is a period where you can make up quite a lot of ground. You can also LOSE out on quite a lot of ground.
So, Rule #1 of survival: Don't let things get to your head. I mean it both ways. Don't be overconfident, but have faith in your ability. Also, don't get depressed because you did not do well in this paper or that one. Let your confidence be unshakeable for a bit, in a positive sense. Do not lose confidence is yourself; This is the biggest thing to ensure while passing through this period.
Now, onto things you should and should not do. This is fairly straightforward. Avoid using new books; Stick with the ones you have already covered. This will help avoid duplication of efforts, as most books have about 80% problems common. This also applies for the theory. So better to not experiment with new books in this period. Also, make sure you give A LOT of papers. It is imperative to practice good, Advanced level question papers in this period. Also, they should be attempted properly; As in, you should do both paper 1 and paper 2 for the full 3 hours, with a less than 2 hour break in the middle. Let paper practice become the source of new questions for you, instead of books. This way, you'll leaarn to handle surprises and tough questions thrown at you in the paper. Also, 6 hours of paper-solving can be taxing, so make sure you have your stamina with you till the final bell. This stamina can be developed only through paper-practice.
There's also the issue of exam nervousness. As hard as you might prepare, there will always be those butterflies in your stomach. No one is exempt from this. But you can minimise the impact of this nervousness by giving papers. The pseudo-exam atmosphere, with thousands of kids writing the paper with you- that cannot quite be recreated in a test. However, it is the best you could possibly do.
Go for some good, reputed All India Test Series. Only solving papers also won't suffice; It's more important to properly analyse each and every paper. You have to learn from your mistakes, and not repeat them in the actual paper. Evaluate your scores on the same day; Sit with the paper, and think where you are lacking. This is the way to root out the final flaws in your preparation.
There's one more important skill to be learnt during this period: The skill of sorting. You must be thorough enough with your weaknesses and strengths that you can immediately sort questions in the paper, and attempt your strengths first. This is not an innate thing, but has to be honed like every skill. Without this, JEE Advanced is a HUGE obstacle.
Also, some more do's and dont's:
KEEP REVISING INORGANIC CHEMISTRY THOROUGHLY. Students do not pay heed to inorganic chemistry much during this period. You keep revising it, at least 25% of the chemistry paper will fall into your lap.
GO THROUGH SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS. We all tend to forget something or the other from some chapter. It's very important that you keep as much theory as possible in your head. Revising so much during so little time is no mean feat, and it helps greatly if you have synopses of chapters writtem with you.
BE THOROUGH WITH OXIDISING AND REDUCING AGENTS IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. It's not a big surprise that Match-Matrix questions pertaining to this were asked in the past 2-3 years. It is baffling, with so many things to remember. Mug all of it up, is all I can say. It's EXTREMELY IMPORTANT from JEE-Advanced point of view.
That's all this time from my side guys. I understand this hasn't been as technical a post as you would have liked, but we have some serious time crunches at the moment. Feel free to post your doubts in the comments section below, and I'll surely try and answer as many as I can, as that would be simpler.
Study hard! It's the final stretch of an extremely long journey, and you certainly don't want to miss whatever awaits you at it's end, out of sheer exhaustion!
Cheers!

Striking a balance between boards and JEE prep

Hi all. Let us begin by wishing all of you a very happy, prosperous and belated new year :p
Guys, this is a joint post. Myself(i.e Karan) and Dhruv collaborated to come up with this latest piece. So between us all your doubts should be cleared.
We saw a lot of comments asking how to juggle board exams and JEE together. Well, as far as you guys are concerned, JEE and board are like oil and water- totally immiscible; Or are they? This post will guide you through the most turbulent time of JEE prep- the end. I’ll be writing the first part, then Dhruv will pitch in.
First of all, let me tell you this- board marks MATTER A LOT for JEE Main. I secured 255 marks in JEE Main and 90% in boards; My rank was 2166. I have a friend in my division who secured 264 marks and 91%; His rank was around 400. That itsy-bitsy, measly 1% can take your rank from 4 digit to 3 digit. So DON’T TAKE YOUR BOARD EXAMS LIGHTLY. No matter how well prepared you are for JEE, board exams demand of you something totally different; the ability to present what you want to say in a proper way, the meaning of which can be gleaned even by a child reading the paper. That is the intent of board examiners.
Now, on to the intricacies woven by the combination of boards and JEE-Main; How do you tackle both together? Well, guys, fact of the matter is- they are both one and the same thing as far as JEE Main is concerned. Let’s talk firstly about those who will get some time (a week at least) for coming up to speed with their prep after board. For you guys, the drill is simple- keep your head clear and finish up your boards in the best way possible. You can practice MCQs during the board if you want to. If you have prepared well enough, a week should be enough time to get into the feel of JEE Main again. Chill out for a few hours the day board exams finish, then gear up for JEE Main. Also, if you have more than a week, solve a couple of full portion papers. That way you will be well and truly set for facing the actual examination.
Another important thing, which stands true for everyone- JEE Main ALWAYS has some questions pertaining to very out-of-the-way topics, like semiconductors, telecommunication etc. in physics, qualitative and quantitative organic analysis in chemistry, and stuff like Poisson’s distribution etc. in Maths. These things will be given in the best possible way in your board textbooks. I’d suggest you to do these topics with a tad extra seriousness. Read and remember the theory carefully; Questions will be mostly based on the text, nothing fancy will be asked. But students tend to ignore these topics, which pulls down the score by quite a bit. So don’t commit that blunder. Those of you aiming specifically for JEE-Advanced- You guys could use the extra motivation of having cracked JEE Main with an awesome score. And believe me, you WILL get a boost of confidence for Advanced if your Main total comes out to be decent enough.
Now, for those of you who will have less than a week after your boards. Most of you will be from CBSE board. Well, the bad thing is-you don’t get much time to prepare. But the good thing is- you are studying for boards from the GODBOOK for JEE-Main; NCERT. A thorough go-through of NCERT will put you miles ahead of others as far as JEE Main is concerned. Inorganic chemistry learnt in this time will also help for JEE-Advanced. So take heart, and cheer up! You guys also have an edge. Details for you guys are herewith presented by Dhruv:
Thanks a lot Karan! Hey there, guys! I was in a CBSE school.. a 'proper' school with 90%+ attendance (not a dummy), and faced a similar issue for JEE Mains. To put mysef in perspective, I scored 262 in Mains (yes, I know I messed up) and 96.8% in Boards – that saved my rank... 352 eventually.
I'll be focussing on just the CBSE guys here. Say you're done with your course and its February. Plan out a revision schedule; sort material according to difficulty and span. Make sure to devote as much time as possible, and not to stress out at the same time... According to me, you can start off reading up theory and subtle MCQs just tricky enough (and a sample paper twice a week, no more – dont over do anything).. Forget studying wrt Advanced. Devote yourself to GOOD questions (not all easy). All the prep you've done till now would take you through. Keep the real hard questions for the time you're bugged – as a bonus to your conscience. Read through the NCERT thoroughly for Physics and Chemistry. Esp. Chemistry. Your mains is completely covered by NCERT.. Just need to read between the lines, as my teacher said!
Trust NCERT, no matter how trivial it seems... Try to find the insight.. Once your boards near, start preparing for boards entirely and keep the MCQs as your bonus! Stay devoted to boards.. Tell you what: my friend @ 272 in Mains and 95.8% in Boards got a rank of 800s. You see how important CBSE boards are...
During boards, chill out. Dont overdo.. you'll mess up - and that's the worst you could do!
When boards are done, or about to be done, leave tests... leave questions! Most important is to learn from all you've done wrong and not DO AS MuCH AS YOU CAN... not repeating the mistakes is the key. The week that you have, read through the scaries chapters – say, Semiconductors, Waves, Linear Algebra, Inorganic, polymers etc. And make notes for yourself. Brief, all important notes. I made 7 pages of notes, never got time to refer.. but writing helps in referring.! :)
Day before Mains, dont study too hard! Go easy, wach a movie. Play games.! Chill out your mind! Next day – Rock it!
Well.. feel free to post your queries! We wish ou the best for Mains and The Boards.
PS- Guys my friend is from state board, whereas Dhruv's is from CBSE. That made the difference that appears as a discrepancy!

For Droppers

Hi people! Shobhna here. And here goes the article for droppers which I promised.

I'll tell this straight from the beginning for all those who have taken a drop. DON'T let go in the middle. Hold on till the end. There were plenty of people who gave up in the middle, and got ranks worse than the previous year.

Well, droppers have a few advantages over the others:

1. No Boards, so you have the whole of March to study.

2. You have given JEE once, you have more experience of the environment, the stress. Try to curb the stress.

(These were meant for motivating droppers, 12thies also have loads of advantages over droppers, so don't make an issue out of this, 12thies :P)

Now a little bit about the preparation:

Your course should ideally get over by January/early February so that you have enough time to practise. By course getting over, I mean becoming confident enough in ALL the chapters. After your course gets over, try giving a test every single day, preferably in the exam timings. Do revision packages along with giving tests. Revise every chapter periodically, so that it remains in your mind, as if you've just done it. Never get out of touch with a chapter. Ideally, I would recommend revising Inorganic daily. I used to revise Inorganic by picking up a chapter, writing down whatever comes in my mind about that topic, and later tallying it with my notes to see what I had left. (This helps people with weak memories like me.)

Some logistics now:

It's really very easy to get demotivated during the drop year. Stay away from demotivators.

The same people telling you repeatedly that taking a drop is a huge risk, will come and tell you that you made a wise decision after you clear JEE with flying colours!

Have something that motivates you even when you feel you're in the biggest trench of your life. Keep in touch with your parents, and with the teachers and friends who motivate you the most. Coz JEE is not just about PCM, it's also about how well you are able to handle your emotions and stress!

Your last year's rank doesn't matter, what matters is your performance this year! Nobody is going to ask you why you dropped a year in the long run! In fact, people at iits are so chill, they don't give a damn to whether you have dropped a year after 12th or not!

So, work hard, stay motivated! See you all at the iits next year! :D

Being Economical With Mathematics

Hi guys, this is Karan. I think this is high time that a formal post came through :P So here goes-

This is December, which means pretty much everyone’s syllabus will be completed once, or will be at least drawing to an end. This, I feel, is the perfect time to start becoming economical with your time and your study material.

Mathematics is a BIG fear of many JEE aspirants. Personally, maths was never my strongest subject, but towards the end, it did become the very base on which my JEE prep was based, and on which my rank rested. So here I am going to share some topics in maths which are quite popular with examiners, but are easy enough for you all to exploit.

1. Co-ordinate geometry: This is one of the simplest topics in maths, carrying huge weightage. Some questions in circle can be made tricky, the rest of the chapters are mostly formula-based, and require only a little bit of critical thinking.

1. What to do: MUG UP ALL FORMULAE. Mugging, for once, will give you an edge here. Also, be a little bit familiar with concepts of basic geometry, as they help in some of the trickier questions of circle and straight line.

2. From where to do: Cengage is a pretty decent book as far as variety of problems in this chapter is concerned. But if you REALLY wish to master it, Vikas Gupta’s Co-ordinate Geometry problem book is the best book I’ve across. It’s available on Shri Balaji website, and nowhere else. So go with either, or both, according to your needs
3. Weightage: Almost 4-5 questions asked every year (in JEE Advanced)

2. Theory Of Equations: This is, quite easily, one of the most enjoyable topics in mathematics. It tests the very fundamentals of your thinking, and thus can become a prickly point with some. However, practice it properly, and you will be scoring marks for absolutely no effort in the exam.

1. What to do: There’s nothing to mug up here. You just HAVE to get a feel of this chapter to really master it. And yes, brush up your concepts of calculus and sequences and series, because it is often hemmed in with either or both of them.
2. From where to do: Like all algebra chapters, you’ll be best served by solving TMH mathematics for JEE Advanced. It has some of the best questions on this chapter you are ever likely to encounter. Cengage, Arihant etc have more lengthy questions on this topic in their respective books. You can go for them if you have time.
3. Weightage: 1-2 questions, mixed in with calculus and sequences and series.

3. Vectors and 3D geometry: Of all the chapters to be mentioned in the post, these two are probably the easiest to master. They also carry a big bulk of weightage in mathematics section. Worth your while to spend a little time with these chapters.

1. What to do: Again, MUG UP ALL FORMULAE. These chapters also require a bit of visualization though, and that point is generally exploited by the paper setters. Also, these two have been a hot-spot for Multiple Correct Answer Type questions for the past 2-3 years. So be very careful while attempting these questions, because visualisation may just screw up the day for you!
2. From where to do: Cengage Publication book will mostly suffice. Many other books use recycled problems in this topic, so better not to go with too many books for this.
3. Weightage: 4-5 questions EVERY YEAR WITHOUT FAIL.

4. Differential Equations: My second most favourite topic in the entire syllabus. This chapter will test you on a number of things- primarily your ability to foresee the next steps of the solution.

1. What to do: This is quite an easy topic, and only requires the general knowledge of solving the variety of differential equations. That and a HELL of a lot of practice. However, the number of study hours you put into it weighs up nicely with the amount of marks you score on mastering it.
2. From where to do: Being a VERY important topic, you do need to ensure that you don’t leave any stone unturned in it’s preparation. Cengage publication is quite good for this topic, and the problems given at the end of Amit Gupta’s Integral Calculus Textbook should suffice.
3. Weightage: 2-3 questions every year, with a penchant for appearing in Integer type or single correct type questions.

5. Matrices and Determinants: This is not that popular a topic with the paper setters. However it’s innate easiness certainly makes good preying on simple questions.

1. What to do: Mug up the expansion all the regular determinants (will be given in any standard textbook). Also be very clear about the different types of matrices. However, it HAS turned into a horror show on two occasions when interlaced with P&C and Probability, once each.
2. From where to do: Cengage Algebra will do, though to be honest, no book can give you practice for the likes of the questions mentioned above.
3. Weightage: Possibly 1 question, mostly from Cramer’s rule. Can also go higher, depending upon the paper setters. Mixed to superb effect with PC and Probability.

That is just about it. Feel free to ask doubts in the comments section.

Mug strongly guys! This is the period where you will decide your destiny and future.

 All the very best!

The fascinating world of Computer Science!

Many of you aim for CSE branch in a good college. For several of us, getting CSE is a motivation for JEE preparation. I was from ICSE board and by the end of standard 10th, I knew basic C++/Java programming because it was a part of our curriculum. I enjoyed a lot and I always loved to write code (though very basic ones). I always wanted CSE. IIT Bombay was a later choice though.

In this article, I will talk a bit about Computer Science - the dream branch of every JEE aspirant.

Having spent 2.5 years at IIT Bombay, doing various CSE courses, I feel that my choice of Computer Science was a perfect one. The subject interests me a lot and I am really happy with my choice.

Ever wondered what happens when you login to your Facebook account?

WARNING - geeky stuff ahead! Quit now if sleepy :D

You cannot imagine how much of hidden stuff happens when you press your login button.

• Your computer tries to connect to the DNS server which helps your computer identify the IP address corresponding to the Facebook domain. Even this process is complicated. If the domain name to IP address mapping isn't available in your DNS server cache, it tries to connect to several other DNS servers to know the mapping. This may involve as many as 8 message exchanges across various parts of the world and it truly happens in the blink of an eye! All of this is taught in the Computer Networks course, and trust me, it was an amazing course!
• Your login details are confidential. They cannot be sent over the channel (wire/wireless) as a plain text. So, everything is encrypted using a secure cipher suite. This ensures not only privacy of your message (no one gets to know your password), but also integrity of the message (no one can alter the message packet). All of this is taught in Cryptography and Network Security course.
• Your message packet containing your login details goes to one of the several severs of Facebook. The servers work in a coordinated fashion for load balancing. Remember, billions of people use Facebook and if all of them login at the same time, a single machine won't be able to handle the load and so, several servers are needed. Your data is secure with the servers. Additionally, your data is distributed across several servers. These concepts are taught in Operating Systems/Distributed Computing. Several cloud computing concepts are also involved here!
• Then your login details are verified at the server end. How amazing it is that you are identified so quickly in the database of about a billion (1,000,000,000) users in the blink of an eye. Also note that Facebook doesn't have your password! It just stores a hash of your password. Storing passwords will be dangerous because a breach of security at the server might leak all the passwords and so, the passwords are hashed and then stored. All of these concepts are a part of databases course.
• When your search for stuff on Google, a lot of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing is involved. Imagine how smart the computers are that they are able to distinguish between "I can do it" and "Gimme a soda can" - Artificial Intelligence it is!

Such are the things you will be learning as a Computer Science and Engineering Undergraduate. Trust me, CSE is an amazing branch. You will get to learn a bunch of geeky stuff, obscured from the rest of the world :D

IITB fact - IIT Bombay allows your to take ANY course you want in ANY department.

IITB CSE fact - In 4th year, there are no compulsory courses. You can decide what you wanna do! However, you have to choose a fixed number of courses (wasn't that obvious?)

We have an extremely flexible curriculum at IITB. We have a minor programme under which, you can get a Minor degree in other department if you complete 30 credits (around 5 courses) in that department. We also have an honors programme under which you can get an Honors degree if you complete 30 extra credits in your own department. You can take any course in any department and tag it as an institute elective/additional learning course. You are also allowed to audit courses (watch a course, don't give exam!).

Study hard! You gotta crack IITB CSE!

Statistics

No, this post isn't on the chapter on statistics. This post will talk about statistical data of my life during the 2 years of JEE. Many of you have been asking this and I think it would be worth to dedicate a post to this.

• Number of study hours (I was enrolled in a dummy school):
• Class 11th - around 5-6 hours on non coaching days, 7-8 hours on coaching days (including 4 hours of coaching)
• Class 12th - around 10 hours per day, irrespective of coaching/non coaching day
• Test scores:
• Performance in first national level test - 153/240
• Performance in FIITJEE phase tests (once every 3 months): top 20 ranks, 13 being worst, 1st being best
• Performance in FIITJEE open test at the end of standard 11th - National Rank 6th
• Best performance in FIITJEE AITS - National Rank 2, 99.9 percentile
• Worst performance in FIITJEE AITS - National Rank 51, 99.7 percentile
• Average performance in FIITJEE AITS - Top 50 ranks, 99.8 percentile
• Number of sleeping hours: 8 hours on non coaching days, 9 hours on coaching days (general time used to be from 10 pm to 6.30 am)
• Number of books used: Around 10 per subject. Instead of using books per subject, I preferred books per topic (chapter)
• Number of weekly coaching hours: 4 per subject (12 hours a week overall)
• Number of girlfriends during JEE days: 0 :P
• Number of friends during JEE days: almost 0
• Number of family functions attended during JEE days: 2
• Number of hours wasted: I used to waste around 4 hours a day in 11th standard in playing cricket :D

Some people might also want to know other non-statistical data which may be useful

• I owned a smartphone during JEE preparation, with full internet access. I had immense control over myself that I do not misuse the mobile and waste time. I believe technology helps a lot in better development and so, I used the phone a lot (in my non study hours). DO NOT SHOW THIS POST AND ASK YOUR PARENTS TO BUY YOU A SMARTPHONE. You can achieve everything in your life without a smartphone as well!
• I had an active Facebook account during JEE days and I used to post a lot of bullshit :P
• I was an active cricket player in 11th standard. However, I did not waste any time during 12th standard
• I also owned a laptop, which I believe helped me to download ebooks which aren't easily available. (PS - do not ask me to post links, find them yourself!). However, laptop isn't really needed for JEE preparation. You can purchase it once you formally join engineering.

I hope the above facts and figures will help you to understand that IITians are no super-humans. I am sure other authors (Karan and Shobhna) will agree.

If you want to know any more facts and figures, feel free to ask, but please don't be as silly as - Aman how many hours did you spend in shitting?

First semester @ IITB

Hello people!

Karan here again.

It’s been getting a bit too serious on the blog these days. So here’s an informal post.

Just got done with the first semester! Still can’t believe it, feels like not too long ago, we innocent freshies were attending orientations with our insanely proud lot of parents and relatives, loving each and every minute of it! But as the poet Rumi says- ‘how seemless seemed love, and then came trouble!’ (too much of an exaggeration, but what the hell! This is an informal post :p). Bang on the scene arrive the IIT-BBC (the broadcasting channel of IITB) crew, pranking us all out of our wits :p Seriously pleased they didn’t pick me out, I was probably the only guy wearing formals, and was as idiotically happy as it is possible to get. I would have been the easiest prey they could find  :p 

Then after our official orientations, Life@IITB began! And what a life! The Internet speed! The classrooms! The (unofficial) orientations of the various activities! The socializing! Still feels as though I have been flung into a cornucopia of pleasures and ALL activities imaginable on the face of this earth ☺

Foremost was the adaptation to the jargon. It’s a different life altogether inside IITB, and consequently it also has it’s own arcane jargon. These days though, I have to make a conscious effort to not speak in the language of the insti to outside people :p

Then came the orientations. IITB has every club possible- western music, lit, tech, personality, you name it, we have it! And the orientations for the same are just as amazing. Also, we have InsIghT, our campus newsletter ( for which I work), BBC as mentioned previously, and A LOT of other things.

Enter acads. Maths. Physics. Chemistry. Lab. Monotonous. Ditch. (Though won’t ever forget the feel of scoring a perfect 10/10 in first maths quiz; #showboating :p)

THEN came freshiezza. One of the most memorable weekends of my life. Freshiezza is the inter-hostel competition held annually, exclusively for freshies. It is organized in two parts, first part before the midsems, second part afterwards. First part involves individual competitions. That was a WHOLE LOT OF FUN. Our floor even won the ad-making competition! Kudos to the seniors here for organizing it. 

Then came one of the best parts of the first sem: the DJ night. On the basis of our future senior hostel, we were rounded up by sophies and taken to the DJ night. What’s amazing was, the DJ was not the highlight of the night; The Naarebazi was :p . My voice literally went hoarse, screaming ‘H4 ki… (stuff which I do not want to say here :p)’ and ‘H10 hamara hai’ and on and on and on :p One of the best nights of ALL freshies’ lives, I’m sure ☺

After midsem came freshiezza phase 2: Group activities. Again it was enjoyable, more so than the first phase, because I got to perform on a stage for the first time in front of an audience ☺ We performed at the inter-hostel band competition, and that was an experience beyond comparison. ‘All the right moves’ by One Republic (the song which we performed) has been on loop in my playlist ever since!

 Now came work for two calender highlights of any IITian: Mood Indigo and Techfest. As organizers, we freshers put in quite a lot of work to make both festivals as grand as possible. Our seniors do so even more. I found myself doing spamming from fake accounts, calling people to inform them about this year’s lineups for MI and techfest (I must say, feels awesome when complete strangers start addressing you as ‘sir’ as soon as you take the name IIT-Bombay :D) and doing a lot of other odd things. An entire group of us even frisked people coming to attend our first concert!

Got in touch with Aman, Shobhna, and you guys soon afterwards! It was really rewarding for me to see (or so I presume) that my article helped you guys, that I was able to make even a little bit of difference ☺

In short, my first semester has blown by like a breeze, which sometimes propelled me to the heights of euphoria, sometimes slammed me into the depths of misery. But that is what life is all about!

Most of all though, thanks to all the activities, seniors and campus, I have started to become a new person.. a person who is responsible for others, who believes more in helping others than his own selfish interest, and who wants the betterment of society and progress of every single being around him (this thanks to a couple of my extremely ‘#seniorswag’ wale seniors, though I call them my friends first and senior later :p) This is the ultimate progress that I, or for that matter ANY of the freshies here at IITB, have made in our lives. THAT progress is the biggest gift that a college like ( probably no other college like it, in my opinion :p) IIT Bombay confers upon you.

With all the studies, fun, friends, festivals, and of course, LUKKHA :p (no IITB guy’s description of a semester will be complete without this word), it has been a THOROUGHLY enriching experience, especially after the monotony of the past two years. The feel that you get, that of belonging to a huge family, is also incomparable.

Study hard, guys! An entirely fun-filled, adventurous and thrilling life is at stake!

Cheers, 

Karan. 

P.S- For all of you nerds (a good thing to be, during your preps ☺) out there, I promise next post will be technical and acads related :p

P.P.S- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxzRnKlincY

Anyone with a few minutes to spare, take a look, really good video prepared by IITBBC ☺